Title: Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1)

By: Morgan Rhodes

Pages: 412

Published: December 11th 2012

By: Razorbill

Genre: Fantasy-YA-Romance-Magic

Buy it: Book Depository

In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed… and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

It’s the eve of war…. Choose your side.

Princess: Raised in pampered luxury, Cleo must now embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of magic long thought extinct.

Rebel: Jonas, enraged at injustice, lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished. To his shock, he finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.

Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into the royal family, discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Heir: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, firstborn son Magnus begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword…. 

Goodreads

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Wow, this book is really intense and I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would, which is great!. The characters and the construction of the whole world are very solid and well thought, it reminded me of GOT and as a fan, I loved that feeling. Now I’m excited to continue with the next book, I’m ready for even more drama and betrayals.

The story focuses on the three kingdoms of Mytica, where magic has almost been forgotten, the kingdoms have been at peace with each other for centuries, but something is emerging and could change everything. We follow four main characters, they’re Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus, each with very different lives and goals, but their paths will cross in unexpected ways. They’ll be involved in a world full of revenge, betrayals, forbidden romances and murders. In this book full of unexpected situations, which side will you choose? 

I was very excited to read this book since my boyfriend has been recommending it to me a lot since he read it and you know, he was so excited that he started making me some spoilers and I was like “STOP, I promise I’ll read it” lol . So before he made spoilers of the whole book I decided to read it finally, it’s been in my TBR for a long time already, so it was about time I gave it a chance. I’m very happy about it, it’s a very impressive book, I began to read it and I couldn’t put it down and if I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it, it caught me from the beginning

The characters are the most varied thing, I’ll tell you just a little about how I felt about each one of them, so as not to make this the longest review in the history lol. I have a lot of feelings

First we have Cleo, who’s undoubtedly my favorite character in the book, I think she’s a very brave character, who breaks a bit with the princess stereotype, I think she faces difficult situations and makes decisions that, although are risky, are valuable at the same time, because for me it’s a girl who has a great heart and shows it many times during the book, I appreciate that. I know that, on the other hand, she’s still immature but I think that with all that she has had to live and everything that she has faced in this book she’ll become a stronger person and I’m excited to find out, she has a lot of potential.

Then we have Magnus and oh my god, after meeting Magnus Bane I thought that I could never like another Magnus but here I am, and this character has me fascinated. I usually fall in love with characters like him, he has a very hard story with a ruthless father, he has to test himself over and over again on front of him, he has to hide and repress his feelings and I feel so bad for him. I think that although it’s a rather dark character there is something in him that comes to light in many scenes where we can see him as the kind and concerned human being that he really is, and he can’t show that side in front of his father, which is very frustrating and sad. So I feel there’s so much I want to know about Magnus yet.

I have to confess that his scenes with Cleo are my favorites, I love how these two interact with each other and I’m shipping something that is probably impossible, but I don’t care, I’ll sink with this ship lol.

Then we have Lucia and I’m not entirely sure about her, I think it’s naive but I don’t blame her because of the context in which she was raised she couldn’t behave in any other way. Even so, I think that over time she’ll grow up and maybe start making decisions for herself instead of always doing what others say, I like that she’s very loyal and sweet, but even so I feel that this can play against her in this world full of betrayals. I’m excited to see her evolution after everything she has discovered in this book , so we’ll see.

Finally we have Jonas, and his story is, in my point of view, the saddest and hardest of all. Just at the beginning of the book he suffers a awful loss of someone he loves and that transforms him in some way and makes him make perhaps hasty and impulsive decisions. I know that his intentions are noble but at the same time I was very frustrated with him while reading the book, I think he’s so naive that he really can’t see the true intentions of others. Even so at the end of the book his attitude left me more pleased and I’m looking forward to reading more about him, although being honest this book hasn’t been enough to feel a connection with him, I think he was the character that least interested me in this opportunity

We have many secondary characters in the plot, of course being a High Fantasy is normal that there are alot of them, so it’s always an overwhelming experience. Even so I can’t complain about it with this book, it’s quite easy to get into the world, I love how it’s divided, I really like the construction of the kingdoms and how they differ from each other, that is fantastically created, I loved that!. Each chapter is a different kingdom so it’s very easy to locate yourself where the situation is happening, without having to be remembering which character belong to which place, and it’s a great detail the incorporation of the map in the book, I love maps but sometimes I find them a little bit confuse, in this case is very simple and that makes everything easier when it comes to reading about the kingdoms and their policies. 

I really liked the writing style, I think it’s very easy to read despite being fantasy, you start with it and it’s very hard to put it down, besides, the chapters are short and I loved that.

I had some problems with some scenes since it seemed to me that very important things like deaths of characters with a lot of weight in the story happened in a hurry, I don’t know, they didn’t convince me at all. I would have liked that those scenes have been told in a more leisurely way, I hope you understand what I try to explain here lol. In conclusion, there were scenes that happened too quickly for me and I’m still processing them.

Another thing that I’m not sure about is the romance, I talk about the one that involves Cleo with another character, I felt that it was too much insta-love for my liking, in general it’s not something that bothers me but in this book it was too much. Literally one of them was just walking and then thinks “Oh my god, I think I fell in love” and I was like “When did this even happen!” LOL. Even so, I liked the couple, it’s just that the romance wasn’t built, it just happened and that’s something hard for me to follow

In summary it’s a very good book, it has a great world building and very interesting characters. I recommend it a lot if you like GOT, like me or if you want to read a High Fantasy that is not heavy at all, on the contrary, it’s very easy and quick to read and I can’t stop highlight that, since it’s something so hard to find in this genre. I think you’ll enjoy it especially if you like plot twists and unexpected betrayals, besides the political elements of each kingdom are very well thought, I really enjoyed that aspect. I can’t wait to read the next one,I feel there are so many things that can happen, the end of this one was AMAZING. 

PS: I’m sorry that this review has ended up being so long, but the reviews of the following books in the series will be shorter I promise

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Rating

4/5 Stars

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